Dixon 6th; Uceny reaches finals

June 23, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS -- Former South Bend LaSalle High School star Leroy Dixon placed sixth in the finals of the 100 in the U.S. Track Championships in Indianapolis Friday, and Plymouth native Morgan Uceny placed third in her heat of the 800 to advance to Sunday's finals. Dixon, who ran at South Carolina and now runs for Nike, placed second in his heat to qualify for the finals. Trindon Holliday of LSU won the heat in 10.22. Dixon ran a 10.26. Tyson Gay of adidas won the 100 finals with a time of 9.84 seconds. Dixon placed sixth in 10.25. "It was great running here again," Dixon said. "I was running at home again. I feel comfortable." Dixon was cheered on by a contingent of family and friends from South Bend. "My dad is my rock," Dixon said. "Having him here really helps." Dixon will be running in the 200-meter preliminaries today. Uceny, who runs for Cornell, ran the 800 in 2:03.4 to advance. Hazel Clark of Nike placed first in the heat in 2:02.59. "(Thursday in the prelims) I was pretty tight, but today I felt a lot better," Uceny said. "My coach wanted me to just settle into third. It takes too much speed (out of your legs) to try to run up front. So I just hung back and let the leaders break the wind." Uceny hopes to finish in the top three on Sunday and make the U.S. team to compete in the World Championships in Japan in late August-early September. "I feel really good," Uceny said. "My legs really loosened up. It's going to be a fast race, but I've been running well."